Plainfield high school mourns girl killed in New Lenox crash

March 09, 2010

The day after a 16-year-old Joliet girl was killed and two other teen girls injured in a car crash, friends and classmates grieved, bid their farewells on a social networking page and comforted each other at school.

Emily A. Dukovac, 16, died at Silver Cross Hospital in Joliet on Monday night, about an hour after the Chevrolet Cavalier she was riding in rolled through a stop sign and was struck by a Ford F-150 truck.

A neighbor said Emily was an honor student at Plainfield High School's Central Campus, where she was a member of the pom squad. She was the only child of Mario and Pam Dukovac, said Karen Gura, who lives across the street from the girl's family.

"She was their everything," Gura said. "She was a wonderful girl. She was such a sweetheart, every mother's dream."

The crash occurred shortly after 5 p.m. in New Lenox, said Pat Barry, a spokesman for the Will County sheriff's office. The girls were headed east on New Lenox Road when their car was hit by the pickup truck traveling north on Cherry Hill Road, officials said. Barry said he didn't know where the girls were going.

Emily was in the back passenger side, where most of the impact occurred. All three girls had to be extricated from the vehicle. The two surviving teens did not suffer life-threatening injuries, but they remained at Silver Cross Hospital on Tuesday, said Barry, who declined to identify them because they are 16.

The 49-year-old driver of the truck was shaken up but in good condition, Barry said.

"Our traffic division is investigating, and once they finish they'll issue tickets," Barry said. "It doesn't appear there was any drugs or alcohol for any party."

The driver of the car had a valid driver's license, Barry said. In Illinois, teenage drivers under 18 are allowed to have only one passenger younger than 20 years old in the vehicle with them unless the extra passenger is a sibling. Barry said as part of their investigation, detectives are trying to determine if the three teens should have been riding together.

"I've known that girl since she was a baby and they brought her home from the hospital," said Gura, who started to cry as she reflected on Emily. "You just don't expect anything like this."

Emily was a junior at Plainfield High, where grief counselors were available Tuesday to talk with students and teachers, said Lauren McFarland, community relations coordinator for Plainfield Community Consolidated School District 202.

"She was the type of person that got along well with every kind of student," McFarland said she learned from school administrators. "She was a very welcoming person and was the kind of person that cared about everyone."

Shortly after the accident, a Facebook page was created in Emily's honor.

"School was so rough today knowing that you're gone," one person wrote on the page.

Dozens expressed sorrow at her death.

"I'm still waiting for this to be some sort of nightmare I'm going to wake up from," one girl wrote. "It doesn't feel real losing someone so lovely and sweet and amazing."